Relations between the Parenting Styles and Identity Status of Teenagers

Adolescents and Young People’s Personalities

Adolescents and young people’s personalities develop, identities become stable, and sense of freedom grows as a result of their parents’ beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes, which appear to be family patterns or parenting styles. Each family has a distinctive way of raising its children and imparting to them the knowledge of their own and other people’s personalities. Children’s conduct is influenced by various parenting interactive modalities. Equally, the type of parenting style influence children at each stage in their life and research shows that it has a large impact on the development of identity and independence of the young people. By what means do parenting styles influence the abilities of their children to be independent and mold their personalities? There is the need of finding answers to the question on the effect of parenting styles on their children as they mature on their independence and development of identities.

Parental Responsiveness and Identity Styles

According to Ratner (2013), parents and parenting styles strongly influence the identity styles of their children (5). In a study conducted on different categories of parents with a sample of 264 students, it was found out that parental responsiveness promoted an informational and normative identity style in the students together with a positive attachment. Provision of love and warmth by parents proved that the children felt safe and were encouraged to explore their environment. However, the category of parents who were authoritative predicted an unusual identity style and lack of independence. The study suggests that the outcomes of the children identity style are a function of the style of parenting. According to a survey carried out by Grundman (2017), in an online survey of 80 students, the parenting style of parental autonomy support had a positive correlation with the development of identity and independence of the students (3). Nonetheless, the other type of parenting style; conditional parental regard was not connected in any way with the identity forms or independence of the children. The study results further established that the style of parenting forecasted the character outcomes of the young people, hence proposing that the outcomes are as a consequence of the parenting styles.

Relationship Between Parenting Style and Identity Styles

According to a study conducted by Far and Fattahi (2015), on the relationship between the style of parenting and identity styles, results showed that there exists a significant relationship between the two (131). The research which was conducted through administering questionnaires to randomly selected students established that the authoritative parenting style resulted in the desired identity and independence in the adolescents. Additionally, the kind of interaction between the parents and their children determined the development of identity in the young people. On the other hand, the study showed that use of permissive and authoritarian styles of parenting resulted in undesired identities in their children. According to Laboviti (2015), parents have a significant role in the identities and independence of their teenagers because parents nourish their children with feelings of security and urging them to be independent (65). According to the study conducted on the types of parenting styles and the influence on the teenagers, the results showed that they acquired imposed identity status from their parents. Additionally, the authoritarian parenting style proved to act as a protective strategy in the development of identity as compared to other styles of parenting. The quality relationship between the parent and the child results in having a confident, competent and socially responsible child.

Effects of Parenting Styles on Identity and Independence

However, a parent-child relationship which is not qualitative is likely to deny the teenager the development of positive identity and independence and bring him/her the negative effects hence preventing the development to maturity. O’Connor and Stephen (2007), on the outcomes of parenting styles on children, argue that different styles of parenting influence the children in various manners (10). The authors explain that the authoritative and authoritarian have different effects on the ability of a child to develop desired identity and independence. According to the authors, the authoritative approach of warmth, positivity and positive control resulted in children with competency in social relations, academic excellence and symptomatic. The authoritarian approach style of parenting which is characterized by conflict, less-warmth, and punitive control resulted in worse identities and lack of independence. Sebangane (2015), argue that adolescence is the most critical stage of development in every individual because the development of identity takes place (23). Family or parents’ acts as the important agents in the provision of support in adolescence stage for them to fight the challenges they face. A study done by Sebangane revealed that majority of the teenage participants who filled the questionnaire were driven towards selecting the informational identity style (Sebangane 86). However, the common parenting style was authoritative hence the reason why the teenagers chose informational identity style.

The Importance of Authoritative Parenting Style

Teenagers need the influence from their parents to progress to successful identity development and independence. According to a study done by Rezvan (2017), authoritative style of parenting proved to be the most positive influential style for moral development and identity in teenagers (15). According to the study, having authoritative parents who demand a lot and are very responsive act as defenders of their adolescents from engaging in immoral activities such as drug abuse. Children who are brought up in authoritative parenting styles tend to have the high competence of developing desired identities and being independent. The family is the primary environment for a child for the development of behavior. A study done by Shayesteh et al. (2014), on the relationship between parenting style and identity formation, it was found out that the authoritarian style of parenting had children with diverse identities which include; advanced, premature and diffusion (52). However, permissive style of parenting resulted in two kinds of identity formation in children; premature and diffusion. It shows that the kind of parenting style influences the ability of children to develop different identities and independence. However, the beliefs of the parents, their attitudes, and behaviors which are family patterns or child upbringing styles play a significant role in the identity development and independence of a child.

Conclusion

It is evident from the above that the style of parenting has a significant influence on the development of identity style and freedom in teenagers. The level of interaction, affection, and family patterns also affect how the young people form their identities and how they become independent. Parents behavior and their chosen form of parenting determines the abilities of the teenagers to develop independence and have desired or undesired identities. From the research done by various authors, authoritative parenting style proves to be the best approach to achieving the desired identities and independence in children. However authoritarian and other styles of parenting seem to have adverse effects on the development of identity and level of independence on adolescents. Ultimately, the type of parenting style and behaviors determines the ability of the teenagers to be independent and develop their own identities.

Works cited

Far, Mohammadreza Tamannaei, and Neda Fattahi. “Investigating the Relationship between the Parents’ Parenting Styles with Children’s Identity Processing.” Bull. Env. Pharmacol. Life Sci 4 (2015): 129-136.

Grundman, Jennifer. Does Parenting Style Predict Identity And Emotional Outcomes In Emerging Adulthood?. 2017. Web. 27 July 2017.

Laboviti, Brunilda. “Relations between the Parenting Styles and Identity Status of Teenagers in Albanian Context.” Journal of Educational and Social Research 5.1 (2015): 65.

O’Connor, Thomas G., and Stephen Scott. Parenting and outcomes for children. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2007.

Ratner, Kaylin. “The role of parenting and attachment in identity style development.” (2013).

Rezvan, Ahmad, HM Ramakrishne Gowda, and Lancy D’Souza. “Influence of Parenting Styles and Developmental Stages on Identity Formation among Adolescents.” (2017).

Sebangane, Leungo. The relationship between adolescent identity styles and parenting styles in one and two parent families in Botswana. Diss. University of the Western Cape, 2015.

Shayesteh, Shiva, Masoud Hejazi, and Gholamhoseen Entesar Foumany. “The Relationship between Parenting Styles and Adolescent’s Identity and Aggression.” Bull. Env. Pharmacol. Life Sci 3 (2014): 51-56.